Section A past papers

AS Past papers overview- SECTION A

Exam season	Unseen media text	Additional info provided on paper	Question 1	Question 2	Question 3	Question 4
Jan 2013	Road safety advert	You are about to see Embrace Life, a British public information film made for the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership about the importance of wearing seat belts. The short film has become an international phenomenon, reaching 129 countries through social networking and video sharing sites, after it was launched on the internet in January 2010. Highly praised for its visual and emotional impact, the film has scooped a range of awards worldwide. By December 2011, the film had over 14 million views on YouTube and a Facebook group, ‘This Ad Should be on TV’, had been created. Executive Producer, Neil Hopkins, said that the film had originally been designed to be screened at local cinemas, on the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership website, and at local educational events. He added: ‘We never dreamed that the campaign would touch so many people.’	How does the institution take an original and positive approach to road safety advertising?	How does mise-en-scène contribute to the impact of the film?	How is family represented in the film?	Why does the film appeal to such a wide audience?
June 2013	Extract from the BBC’s ‘Frozen Planet’	You are about to see a short sequence from Frozen Planet, first broadcast on BBC One and BBC One HD at 9.00pm on Wednesday 16 November 2011, and also made available to watch online via BBC iPlayer. As part of the most watched natural history series in the UK, this episode attracted over seven million viewers. Shot over four years in high definition at a cost of £16 million, the seven-part nature documentary series explored the Arctic and the Antarctic. The end of each episode contained an extra section called ‘Freeze Frame’, showing behind the scenes footage of the production team in action. Made in association with the Open University, the series was presented by Sir David Attenborough. Frozen Planet has been highly praised, particularly for upholding the public service values of the BBC: ‘to enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.’	What is the BBC hoping to achieve by including behind the scenes footage?	How are editing and sound used in the sequence to structure the narrative?	How is the camera crew represented in the sequence?	Does the programme ‘inform, educate and entertain’ its audience?
June 2014	Advert for Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Games; ‘Meet the Superhumans’	You are about to see the television trailer, ‘Meet the Superhumans’, produced to promote Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Games. It was first broadcast in the UK at 9 pm on 17 July 2012, across 78 television channels, to an audience of approximately 10 million viewers. Securing the exclusive rights to broadcast the Paralympic Games was a major attempt by Channel 4 to reconnect with its core values of ‘Do it First, Make Trouble, Inspire Change’, as the public service broadcaster had faced criticism for becoming too reliant on reality TV shows such as Big Brother. The multi-million pound Paralympics advertising campaign was the biggest in Channel 4’s history. Featuring the Public Enemy track, ‘Harder than You Think’, the trailer was met with much critical acclaim. The director, Tom Tagholm of in-house agency 4Creative, said: “We knew we had to make some noise. We knew we had to add some edge and grit and attitude.” Tim Hollingsworth, head of the British Paralympic Association, who worked with Channel 4 to develop the trailer, stated: “We wanted to show that every Paralympic athlete has a story, but that it starts with the sport.”	How does the trailer promote Channel 4’s brand image?	How are viewers encouraged by the trailer to see disability?	Identify the key narrative techniques used in the trailer.	How are the Paralympic Games represented in the trailer as a much anticipated sporting event?
June 2015	Trailer for ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’	You are about to see the live-action trailer ‘Epic Night Out’ for ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’, globally released via a range of media platforms on 5 November 2013. Made to promote Activision’s tenth instalment of its first-person shooter game franchise, the trailer follows four friends who embark on an action-packed adventure through a decimated Las Vegas of the future. It features a cameo appearance by Hollywood star Megan Fox, as well as the song on the soundtrack ‘I’m Gonna Live Till I Die’ by the famous American singer Frank Sinatra. “Even people who will never buy our game, I want them talking about our advertising and our product,” said Tim Ellis, Activision’s Chief Marketing Officer. “That is the way you build a cultural juggernaut that sustains itself year after year.” To date, ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ is the most played next-generation console game on both Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One. On the Xbox One alone, there have been over 1 billion multiplayer matches played since the game’s launch.	How is camerawork used in the trailer to show the excitement of playing ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’?	How are links with other brands and media products used in the trailer to promote ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’?	How does the trailer attempt to appeal to a male audience?	How is gun violence represented in the trailer?